Saturday, August 31, 2013
Awesome Turtle Picture #24
In past installments of Awesome Turtles Pictures, we looked at some character evolutions, such as how "Terrorpin the Terrible" became Tokka, or how Baxter Stockman got fused with a character called "The Fly" to become Baxter-Fly. Today, we're going to look at how some toy design pitches evolved into the recognizable characters we ended up getting.
First up is Peter Laird's initial sketch for "rhino mutant". Guess who he wound up becoming?
So yes, contrary to popular belief, Eastman and Laird did do the original design and creative work for Fred Wolf/Playmates characters such as Bebop and Rocksteady (think about that next time you accuse them of hating the Fred Wolf/Playmates characters and concepts). Interestingly, a LOT of these action figure pitch sketches I've got stored away are credited to Peter Laird; I'm having a hard time finding any by Kevin Eastman. Seems either Laird pitched a lot more toys than Eastman did, or Eastman simply hasn't shared his sketches online like Laird has.
Here's another one labeled simply "duck". This guy dropped the flight suit, put on a bomber jacket and became Ace Duck by the time his toy was molded (though in the case of the Archie comics, he dropped the flight suit and slipped on a revealing speedo, but the less said about that the better).
Here's a character named "Scalien". His robotic exoskeleton brace giving him mechanical limbs reminds me a bit of Fishface from the Nickelodeon TMNT cartoon and toyline. Being a mutant cobra, however, he may be a predecessor to the Playmates character Scale Tail, who dropped the robotic limbs in exchage for, like, snake limbs. On a snake. That 80s toyline was weird, man.
These next two sketches are for a character called "The Unknown" (love the name), who is described as being a failed attempt to combine two animals into a single mutation. He wound up evolving into Mutagen Man, who it seems will be making a comeback in the Nickelodeon TMNT cartoon.
Some wild stuff. And those are the ones that actually MADE it to the shelves in some form or another. Believe it or not, but there were design pitches considered too weird for the 80s toyline.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
TMNT (IDW) #25
Publication date: August 28, 2013
Story: Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Tom Waltz
Script: Tom Waltz
Layouts: Kevin Eastman
Art: Mateus Santolouco
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Shawn Lee and Tom Long
Editor: Bobby Curnow
“City Fall, Part Four”
Summary:
At a warehouse, Karai ferrets out a gang of Savate
ninja. The Savate feel they have the upper
hand, but it was all an act so that Dark Leo could ambush the Frenchmen. Karai wants to kill the field leader, but Leo
insists she let him return to his boss, Victor, with the warning to stay out of
the Shredder’s way.
At the hospital, Casey and April receive a status update
from Don and Mike (via Skype). Casey is
blown away by the idea that Leo has switched sides, but Don tells him there’s a
lot of that going around, as Hob and Slash seem to be getting buddy-buddy with
them, lately. After the call ends, Casey
confesses to April that he feels useless sitting in his hospital bed, missing
all the action. April tells him that she’s
just happy to know he’s safe and the two finally share a kiss.
In the alleys outside the Skara Brae, Raph shakes down
the hobos Timmy Two-Shoes and Kanada. He
remembers them from the whole briefcase incident and demands they give him the
scoop on everything going down in the underworld scene. Timmy says that there’s a major power
struggle in action and it goes all the way up the ladder.
Elsewhere, Victor and the Savate crush a unit of Foot
Soldiers. Victor is approached by the
Italian Marcello, who says the Families have called an emergency
conference. Victor has a sit down with
Antonio, the head of the Italian Families.
Antonio says he’s concerned about Victor’s confrontational approach to
dealing with the Foot Clan and that it’s causing them all trouble. Marcello speaks out of turn, causing Victor
to kill him and tell the families they can either be predators or prey.
At Foot HQ, Leo and Karai deliver news of their
successful ambush to the Shredder and Kitsune.
Karai is incensed to learn that it was Leo’s decision to use her as bait
to lure out the Savate and she questions Leo’s qualifications for Chunin, as
he once again shied away from killing.
Shredder silences Karai and then dismisses them both. Before leaving, Leo looks at Shredder and
Kitsune and has a brief vision of Hamato Yoshi and Tang Shen. Once they leave, Shredder tells Kitsune he is
concerned that maintaining his "no kill" order to Leo will only stunt his
effectiveness as Chunin. Kitsune warns
Shredder that Leo’s grip on his past life still remains and that forcing him to
kill may break their hold on him. A Foot
Soldier delivers a message from Victor: A severed hand with the note “WAR” on
it. Shredder informs Kitsune that the time to
keep Leo on a leash is running short.
At the Jones household, Casey’s dad thinks about the
trouble his son is in and how useless he’s been as a father. He declares “No more!” then tears off his
shirt, revealing a tattoo of a purple dragon.
At a safe house (marked with the same purple dragon
symbol), Splinter has a pow wow with Old Hob.
He says that he will consider joining with Hob’s mutant gang, but only
under the condition that Hob help return Leo to sanity. Hob accepts, though under a condition of his
own: Splinter must complete a mission for him as a show of good faith.
Prowling the streets, Raph interrogates crooked
Detectives Miller and Corbin, demanding they tell him where the Foot Clan
resides. Raph is pulled away by Don and
Mikey, who have had enough of Raph’s tortured loner act. Raph confesses that he feels responsible for
Leo’s predicament, but his brothers tell him that this is no way to get things
resolved. They decide to work together
on a plan.
Elsewhere, Shredder and Leo monitor Savate headquarters
for their decisive strike. Shredder
orders Leo to fight alongside him, demoting Karai and Alopex to the secondary
unit. Alopex whines to Karai that being
reduced to back-up is demeaning. Karai
informs her not to overestimate her value, but that a secondary strategy is
never a bad thing to have...
As she says this,
in a secret lab somewhere, two thugs are transformed
into a mutant warthog and a mutant rhino.
And they couldn’t be happier about it.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (IDW) #24. The story continues in TMNT (IDW) #26.
*Timmy Two-Shoes, Kanada and Detectives Miller and Corbin
last appeared in TMNT Annual 2012, which is also when the whole “brief case
thing” that Raph references went down.
*This issue was originally published with 5 variant
covers: Cover A by Santolouco, Cover B by Eastman and Pattison, Cover RI by
Mark Buckingham and Charlie Kirchoff, Cover RE for Jetpack by Eastman and Cover
RE Jetpack with Michelangelo bandana.
Review:
Whew! That was a
lot to take in, wasn’t it? There’s a
strange flow to the narrative of “City Fall”, as we drift from segments that
are loaded with story and narrative progression, and then into segments that
are all action and spectacle. Toss in
the vital interlude chapters in the form of the Villain Micros and you’ve got
an arc that moves at a disorienting pace.
It’s not a terrible structure, as it keeps you on your toes, but it
certainly feels rather spastic.
The fourth chapter is all about moving things along and
only here, at the halfway point, do we finally get to see the gang war come
into play. This thing has been simmering
since as far back as TMNT #6; nearly twenty issues ago. It’s gratifying to finally see the plot
thread come into relevance, but yikes that was a long wait. Still, it’s
comforting to know the writing/editing team behind IDW’s TMNT have had such a
far-reaching game plan since Day One. We
live in a time where creative teams are swapped out every 6 issues and the “grand
scheme” approach has become a relic of a bygone era.
So knowing that this was all planned out two years in advance is
impressive. Just, you know. It can be a bit of a nerve-grinder to read a
plot thread in one issue and then have to wait 20 issues for it to bear fruit.
The Savate ninja are finally taking center stage and man,
they had better live up to the hype. All
they’ve been utilized for so far was comedy relief in the 2012 Annual. I enjoyed that story, but as a first
impression, it made the Savate out to be woefully ineffectual criminals. Having been placed under new management since
we last suffered them, however, I expect they won’t be rendered in such
humorous capacity again. I suppose it’s
a side effect from leaving a plot point to boil for two years, but it's a gamble; you build a lot of
hype and if you fail to deliver, the whole thing could blow up
in your face. If the Savate don’t satisfy
20 issues worth of build-up, well, that’s two years of plotting and two years of reader expectation down the
drain.
But before we get all doomy and gloomy in here, the “Krang
War” arc was much the same. General
Krang was introduced in TMNT #1 and it wasn't until TMNT #17 that his arc came to a head. And I loved it. The build-up was long and excruciating, but
the end result was a satisfying read that met my expectations. No reason the same can’t happen for the Savate,
so let’s wait and see what happens (and if you've been reading this comic, waiting is something you ought to be an expert at by now).
Karai is still pouting about rank and respect, and it’s
gotten to the point where that’s all she’s been doing for I don’t know how
long. “Grandpaaaaa why don’t you appreciate
my accomplishments!?” “Grandpaaaaaa why
do you like Leonardo more than me!?” “Grandpaaaaaa
why can’t I be second in command!?” “Grandpaaaaaaaa!!”
Jeez, put a lid on it, you big crybaby.
I remarked in my review for the Karai Villain Micro that
she lacks a personality beyond being resentful and entitled, so I’m really
hoping “City Fall” is where Karai finally grows as a character. The editor’s remarks in the letters column
assures us she’ll be a major player in the second half and we’re already seeing
her handiwork at the end of this issue, so I’m content to presume big things
await her.
And oh yeah, now there’s a cliffhanger splash page if I
ever saw one. I’ve been anxiously
awaiting Bebop and Rocksteady since they first cameod (as humans) in the Raph Micro almost two years ago. Again, their
development has been another long simmering plot point, but one that’s finally
come to fruition. I don’t want to talk
about them too much until they’ve finally done something in this series, but
man, I can’t wait until they do.
All these paragraphs and I’ve yet to remark on the
Turtles. With so much going on, the
non-Leo TMNT kind of fall into the cracks of this issue. Don and Mikey are reduced to giving Casey and
April status updates and reigning in Raph’s renegade act. The end result is that they decide to work
together to get Leo back, an obvious conclusion I would have thought they’d have been
able to come to without making a big production about it. Really, Raph’s rebelling just serves to
remind readers that the surplus of characters introduced in the 2012 Annual
still exist.
Anyhow, to wrap things up (I haven’t even bothered with
developments like Casey and April locking lips, Splinter and Hob playing odd
couple, the Purple Dragon foreshadowing or Shredder revealing that he ordered
Leo not to kill anybody), after last issue’s lack of story, this issue just
unloads the plot developments on you. But I’m digging
seeing all these long stewing storylines finally pay off, so hey, bring em on.
Grade: B- (as in, “But the editor’s note at the end said
Pizzaface is never gonna happen. I am
disappointed beyond the realm of consolation”.)
Labels:
IDW
Sunday, August 25, 2013
TMNT (Dreamwave) #5
Publication date: October, 2003
Written by: Peter David
Pencils by: Lesean Thomas
Inks: Erik Sander, Rob Armstrong
Colors: Shaun Curtis
Flats: Kenny Li
Letters: Matt Moylan
VP/Editor in Chief: Roger Lee
President: Pat Lee
Cover: Lesean Thomas, Erik Sander, Edwin Garcia, Rob
Ruffolo
“Shadows of the Mind’s Eye”
Summary:
Brooding on a rooftop, Raph is ticked that he can’t
be thankd by the people he helps; that ninja have to stay concealed in the shadow. Seeing a cat stuck in a tree, Raph discretely
throws his sai, cutting the branch so the cat can land safely in the arms of
the little girl (Pammy) below. Raph
figures he deserves one small thanks; just one.
A vision of Splinter warns him not to, but Raph approaches Pammy anyway.
Fishing for praise, he tells the little girl that he cut
the branch and saved her cat. Pammy is grateful,
then runs back inside her apartment to tell her mom all about “Raffle”. Listening in, Raph hears the mother (Sheila
Shaunston) tell Pammy not to lie and then a smacking sound. Thinking Mrs. Shaunston is abusing her
daughter, Raph leaps in through the window to yell at her. Turns out Mrs. Shaunston was just swatting
flies, but one look at Raph causes her to faint. Raph panics and calls 911, but Pammy tells
him that her mom faints all the time and that she’ll get better. Raph decides to leave before he makes things
worse.
The next night, Raph comes back to the stoop outside the
apartment to check on Pammy. Pammy tells
him that when her mom told the paramedics about “an armored frog”, they took
her away to the Belleview Psychiatric Hospital.
According to her daddy, Pammy may not be seeing her mom for a long
time. Raph promises Pammy he’ll make
things right and leaves.
At Belleview, Dr. Benton is examining Mrs.
Shaunston. He hand waves away all her
claims about “an armored frog” as nothing but a symbolic hallucination; the
same sort of stuff he hears day in and day out.
He has a nurse escort Mrs. Shaunston to her room and then gets down to
her paperwork.
Suddenly, Raph appears in the doctor’s chair. He threatens the doctor, telling him to
release Mrs. Shaunston with a clean bill of health or else. Dr. Benton responds by zapping Raph with a
taser. As Raph collapses, immobilized,
Dr. Benton proceeds to have a mental breakdown.
He now sees that all the things his patients told him they saw were
real. He proceeds to put a “CURED” stamp
on Mrs. Shaunston’s file, then casually exists the office.
Raph struggles to his feet and is greeted by the sound of
gunshots from the roof. A nurse outside
the office says that Dr. Benton has lost it and gone to the roof with his deer
hunting rifle. Out in the street,
pedestrians scramble as bullets strike everywhere. Among them is Pammy, who has come to
Belleview with her father to visit her mother.
Dr. Benton lines Pammy up in his sights, but before he can squeeze the
trigger, Raph knocks him out.
Back at Pammy’s apartment, the whole family is reunited
for a trip to the zoo. Pammy tells her
mom that “Raffle” was actually a nice armored frog. Mrs. Shaunston says that, at the very least,
he tried very hard. Below them in the
sewer, Raph is pouting over the chain reaction of misery his presence caused. Splinter appears next to him to remind him
that they do not hide in the shadows, but live within them as a part of
them. Raph asks Splinter if he ever
wants more out of life. Splinter tells
Raph that wanting more isn’t his job, it’s his son’s.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (Dreamwave) #4. The story continues in TMNT (Dreamwave) #6.
*This issue also included a promotional poster insert for
“T4: The Turtlenator”.
Review:
Dreamwave finally takes a hint and gives the readers
their first completely new story… And it’s more introspective character study
stuff. Whoopee.
Unlike the previous four issues, though, this one has the
benefit of not trying to force a new story into the framework of an existing
cartoon episode. As a result, we get a
pretty clean narrative from beginning to end.
As a oneshot story about Raph and his misguided attempts to get some
recognition for his good deeds, it’s actually pretty amusing. The domino effect of everything getting worse
and worse the more Raph tries to “fix” things makes for a funny series of
events. Or, at least, I hope they were
intended to be funny and not completely serious.
I think what bugs me with this story is more that David
didn’t seem to have a clear idea how to end it.
The whole concept is that by involving himself, Raph only makes things
worse and worse for everyone. So you
would think that the solution would be for Raph to suppress his ego and let
things work themselves out. But no, the
lesson is obscured because Raph proceeds to meddle and meddle until things
finally reach a more or less neutral position.
Well, “neutral” might not be the word for it, as Dr.
Benton’s life is now completely destroyed because of Raph’s interference. David struggles to find a villain for the
issue and eventually settles on Dr. Benton.
But Dr. Benton never really does anything wrong until Raph drives him
insane. Up until that point he was just
a guy working in a psychiatric hospital helping people with delusions on a day
to day basis. Okay, sure, he didn’t
believe Mrs. Shaunston’s story about “an armored frog”, but why should he?
And then there’s that awkward, clumsy bit where Dr. Benton
decides to stamp “CURED” on Mrs. Shaunston’s case file just to conveniently resolve her conflict. Because that’s what it
takes to get released from a psychiatric hospital, right? A big red stamp on your folder that says “CURED”?
At the center of “Shadows of the Mind’s Eye” there’s a
decent story, but it’s fumbled about way too much. It’s hard to sympathize with Raph,
because of how selfish and petty he's acting. It’s hard to feel that a lesson has been
learned at the end, because Raph solves the problem by doing the same stuff that
caused it in the first place. And it’s
hard to feel like Raph saved the day at the end, anyway, when his actions drove
a normal person nuts.
Dreamwave has mercifully pared down the coloring crew to
just two people; Li on flats and Curtis on colors. With less cooks in the kitchen, the pages are
actually comprehensible for a change.
The colors are brighter and the lines are sharper; thanks in large part,
I’m sure, to a 50% decrease in useless photoshop filters. That aside, many of the same problems remain,
such as everything being drawn separately on a tablet and combined after the
fact, blah blah blah looks like shit.
Though man, Thomas is not very good at drawing facial
expressions appropriate to the situation.
Here’s Pammy, telling Raph that her mother has been committed to a
psychiatric hospital:
Why is she giving Raph the bedroom eyes? And really, if you took that head all by
itself, would you think it belonged to a 5 year-old? Because it’s supposed to.
Anyhow, issue #5 is supposedly where Dreamwave’s TMNT
comic turns a corner and improves. However, it feels more like one step forward,
two steps back. Old problems are solved
in exchange for brand new ones. But who
cares? There’s only two issues left,
anyway.
Grade: D+ (as in, “Decided to give the extra ‘plus’ there
because of an included Simpsons quote and nothing else. ‘Can’t sleep, clown will eat me’.”)
Labels:
Dreamwave
Thursday, August 22, 2013
TMNT New Animated Adventures #2
Publication date: August 21, 2013
Story: Kenny Byerly
Art: Dario Brizuela
Colors: Heather Breckel
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
Summary:
Down in the sewer lair, Leo is subjecting his brothers and
April to an all-day “Space Heroes” marathon.
The others are spared when a storm blows through, disabling the
satellite dish. Leo curses nature, but
Splinter reminds him that nature is something they are all a part of and that
its forces should never be trifled with.
He says that this fact is best exemplified by the tree in their dojo,
which survives on minimal sunlight and water through the tiniest drainage gate
in the street. Suddenly, the TV turns
back on long enough for a news report from Carlos Chiang O’Brien *click*
Gambe. Apparently, an entire block on
East 85th Street has been overtaken by vines. The Turtles and April pile into the
Shellraiser and head out to investigate.
Arriving on the scene, April is immediately attacked by killer vines, but cuts herself free with her bladed fans. Donnie finds people trapped in strange pods
and comes to the conclusion that Snakeweed is back in town. The Turtles and April start freeing the
people before they can be turned into fertilizer, but Donnie calculates that
they could never reach all the people on the block in time. If they hope to save everyone, they’ll have
to stop Snakeweed (as he’s the “root” of the infestation).
Snakeweed obliges by bursting through a wall Kool-Aid
style and attacking. As the Turtles take
on the mutant plant-man, April keeps Gambe from filming them by stealing his
mic. Snakeweed escapes, swearing that
once his “bud” blooms, humanity will be overrun with more plant mutants like
himself. Donnie spots the bud in
question on a rooftop and figures it must be packed with Snakeweed spores. Leo tells Raph and Donnie to go after the bud
and keep it from opening while he and Mike try to take Snakeweed out. April, meanwhile, is left behind to tend to
the crowd.
Donnie and Raph proceed to fight their way up to the roof
where the bud is stationed. They have
some trouble with killer vines, but Raph’s brute force is enough to get them
past any obstacles. Upon reaching the
roof, Raph attempts to turn that brute force onto the bud, but Donnie stops
him. He warns Raph that if they burst
the bud, the spores will spread. Before
Donnie can calculate a way to keep the bud from blossoming, more killer vines
attack them.
Elsewhere, Leo and Mike track Snakeweed to Central Park. They challenge the plant-man, but he easily
takes them down. Crashing into a sign
advertising the turtle habitat at Central Park Zoo, Leo comes up with a
plan. He and Mikey proceed to lure
Snakeweed to the turtle pond and keep him submerged in the water. Consequently, this “overwaters” Snakeweed and
all his killer vines and pods spread throughout the city wither
and die.
With the vines dead, Donnie and Raph free
themselves. They’re met with an
unpleasant sight, as the bud is about to bloom. Thinking fast, Donnie and Raph grab a tarp
and throw it over the bud so the spores cannot be released.
Back in Central Park, Mikey ensnares Snakeweed in his
kussari-gama chain. Leo then launches a
grappling hook onto the tallest tree in the area and attaches the recoil
mechanism to the chain. Snakeweed is
hoisted up to the top of the tree and immediately struck by a blast of
lightning from the storm. Snakeweed
falls to the ground, turning to ash.
Later, with the storm passed, the Turtles and April
resign themselves to the “Space Heroes” marathon. Leo decides to pass on the marathon and goes
to see Splinter (the Turtles immediately fight over the remote). Sitting beneath the tree in the dojo, he
tells Splinter that he was right about the forces of nature, which saved them
all in the end.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT New Animated Adventures #1. The story continues in TMNT New Animated Adventures #3.
*Snakeweed was shown transforming people into fertilizer
in the episode “New Girl in Town”. April
received her bladed fan weapons from Splinter in “Baxter's Gambit”.
*Coincidentally, just two months before this issue, Panini Magazines over in Europe released a very similar TMNT vs. Snakeweed story in TMNT Magazine (Panini) #2. It even ends with Snakeweed getting defeated by a bolt of lightning.
*Coincidentally, just two months before this issue, Panini Magazines over in Europe released a very similar TMNT vs. Snakeweed story in TMNT Magazine (Panini) #2. It even ends with Snakeweed getting defeated by a bolt of lightning.
*This issue was originally published with 2 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Brizuela, Subscription Variant by Ben Bates.
Review:
The Nickelodeon TMNT cartoon is by a wide margin the most
“mutant of the week” animated series the TMNT have ever received. People like to look back at the Fred Wolf
cartoon as being a nonstop action figure-shilling machine for Playmates, but
truth be told, that show was surprisingly reserved in its use of mutant
villains. They really didn’t show up all
that often. The Nick cartoon, on the
other hand? It got to the point where
that show was creating a new mutant every week.
Don’t get me wrong, I LIKE most of the mutant villains the show has introduced,
but c’mon guys. Pace yourselves.
With that in mind, I do wonder how frequently New
Animated Adventures will be utilizing these established villains? Will it employ new villains? Will it reintroduce classic villains the
cartoon has no plans on using? Only time
will tell, I suppose.
In terms of the mutant baddies introduced in the cartoon,
Snakeweed was the first and, to be honest, has probably been my least favorite
of the bunch (next to maybe Spider Bytez; not even a voice over from Lewis
Black can save that character from his terrible name and ridiculous
design). Snakeweed lacks the humorous quirks
that have made the other mutants fun to watch.
He’s just so generic.
So needless to say, he doesn’t make for a very compelling
enemy even in comic book form. To Byerly’s
credit, he pulls something of a fakeout, with the issue starting out like a
retread of “New Girl in Town” before transitioning into a fresh scheme from
Snakeweed. But even if Snakeweed’s plan
is grander this time around, the bad guy is still boring as all get out.
I dunno, I guess not all the villains can be “funny”, but
when it comes to making them stand out… funny does certainly help. Snakeweed’s not exactly an A-class foe of the
TMNT as it is, so he could probably use an injection of personality. Hell, even Spider Bytez has that “obnoxious
jerk” thing going for him.
What I dug more with this issue was how every character
got their own little moment to shine.
Raph’s brute force got him and Donnie through the building. Don’s ingenuity kept the bud from spreading
its spores even after it bloomed. Leo’s
resourcefulness took Snakeweed down using only the elements at hand. And Mikey… Eh. He helped.
April also seems to have learned a lesson from the
previous issue. The Turtles repeatedly
tell her to be careful and stay where it’s safe and she never argues the point
with them. She received a bit of a
humbling last issue, learning that she still isn’t quite ready for the same
level of action as the Turtles. Rather
than have her conveniently forget everything she just learned a story ago,
Byerly has the effect last into this installment. It’s a subtle thing, but greatly appreciated.
Grievances with Snakeweed’s quality as a villain aside,
New Animated Adventures is still good all-ages reading. The self-contained issues feel like condensed
episodes of the cartoon and just about everyone has a strong voice and
personality. Brizuela’s art is as fluid as ever and Breckel continues to be a great match (though she colors Raph’s
bandana orange a couple times in this one).
And hey, “Space Heroes”.
That is the best running gag in the whole show.
Grade: B- (as in, “But imagine my disappointment when
even though I’m a subscriber at my comic shop, I didn’t get the Ben Bates
subscription variant cover. That was a
real bummer”.)
Labels:
IDW
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
TMNT Villains Micro-Series #5: Karai
Publication date: August 21, 2013
Written by: Erik Burnham
Art by: Cory Smith
Colors by: Ian Herring
Letters by: Shawn Lee
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Summary:
At the Foot Clan’s training dojo in Westchester, Karai
seeks the elderly instructor Toshiro for council. Having been demoted from her position as the
Foot’s second in command, she is unsure of her own future and is concerned
about where her grandfather, the Shredder, is taking the Clan. Toshiro suggests that to find her path for
the future, Karai should look to the past.
The Past. Under
the guidance of her father, Oroku Yori, the Foot Clan has become a more modern
criminal organization, more concerned with intimidation through lawyers than
the old ways. Even as a little girl,
Karai is disgusted by her father’s complacency (and his habit of being bossed
around by his lackey, Nakamura). One
day, while looking through her father’s vast library, she discovers “The Secret
of the Foot”, an ancient text describing the Clan’s history and secret ninjutsu
arts. Karai spends the rest of her
formative years studying the book in private while maintaining the façade of
the perfect daughter for her parents.
One night, Karai has a dream. She is approached by the spirit of Oroku Saki
(who instructs her to address him as grandfather). Karai believes him to just be a part of her
dream and nothing more, but Saki slashes her across the hand and the pain
proves that he is a true spirit. Saki
entices her to embrace the old ways of the Foot Clan by overthrowing her father
and using the instructions in “The Secret of the Foot” to restore him to
life. Karai agrees to bring Saki back,
but only after she has restored the honor of the Foot Clan on her own. Karai awakens from her dream and finds scars
from Saki’s attack on her hand, proving that she didn’t imagine the whole
thing.
Karai spends the next few years gathering thugs and
lackeys to train in the ninja arts. She
begins secretly hitting all of her father’s operations, crippling his incarnation
of the Foot. She then kills Nakamura as
payback for his years of disrespect.
Eventually, the stress of trying to run his failed criminal empire gets
the best of Yori and he dies. Karai then
swoops in and takes command of the Foot, reshaping it back into the ninja clan
it once was.
The present. Karai’s
council with Toshiro is interrupted by Dark Leo. Leo is unimpressed with Toshiro’s
productivity, as the Shredder requires more bodies to throw at his
enemies. Karai defends Toshiro, but her
disrespectful tone offends Leo, who reminds her of her place: Beneath him. He brow beats Karai, who uses all her
restraint not to attack him. Seeing her
resentment, Leo offers her the opportunity to fight him and prove that she’s
better. Karai eagerly accepts his offer
and the two do battle. As they fight,
Karai senses something different about Leo; that he’s holding back his killer
instinct. He has many opportunities to
kill her, but passes them all. She sees
this weakness and, thinking ahead, elects to throw the fight. Karai accepts her place beneath Leo and the
Turtle walks out, believing he has made his point. Karai tells Toshiro that she now sees what
she must do to take control of her future.
Two days later, at the Shorai Research and Development
facility, Karai gathers a gang of thugs who are eager to gain power. She tells them that in order to gain that
power, they must prove their worth. One
thug (with purple sunglasses and a Mohawk) asks what they have to do to pass
her test. She strikes him and says that
the power will belong to the last one standing.
Turtle Tips:
*This issue takes place between TMNT Villains Micro-Series #4: Alopex and TMNT (IDW) #25.
*Karai was shown (in a flashback) resurrecting Oroku Saki
with the “Secret of the Foot” in Secret History of the Foot Clan #4.
*The two thugs seen amongst Karai’s congregation at the
end (Bebop and Rocksteady) last appeared in TMNT Villains Micro-Series #4: Alopex.
*This issue was originally published with 2 variant
covers: Regular Cover by Tyler Walpole, Cover RI by Smith.
Review:
Karai, Karai, Karai.
Now there’s a character who has undergone quite an evolution since her
debut back in 1992.
When Mirage introduced her, she was an equal to the
Shredder in terms of rank and his replacement as leader of the Foot. She shared no connection with Oroku Saki
beyond that and was a fairly sympathetic character; not really a villain (she
fought alongside the Turtles more than she fought against them). The 4Kids cartoon introduced her most notable
claim to fame, sort of fusing her with Pimiko of the Image TMNT series, turning
her into the Shredder’s (adopted) daughter.
This aspect of her character would stick and become so well known, most
folks incorrectly cite it as part of her Mirage history. Her sympathetic qualities would remain and
she’d undergo quite an arc across the 4Kids cartoon. Likewise, the recent Nickelodeon cartoon has
been doing wonders with her parentage and friend/foe relationship, but
considering how recent the season one finale was to the writing of this review,
I won’t elaborate at the risk of spoiling a great twist. I will say that the Nickelodeon Karai is
quickly becoming my favorite incarnation of the character, stupid hairdo and
all.
Then there’s IDW Karai.
While the familial relationship to Oroku Saki remains, any traces of her
sympathetic attitude toward the Turtles have been absent. Even the “granddaughter” aspect has been
superficial at best, as she’s shown nothing but resentment toward Saki rather
than devotion (he had nothing to do with raising her, in this version). So with her two most familiar qualities
removed by IDW’s writers, this incarnation of Karai is also only superficial:
Karai by name, but lacking any of her fundamentals.
And yet, as I pointed out in the beginning of this
refresher course, Karai has always been a rather malleable character, prone to
being transformed at the whims of the authors.
Still, without any fundamental Karai-isms to latch onto, this version of
the character has rung rather hollow these past couple years. Just a lot of arm-folding and pouting every
time Shredder tells her to button her lip.
Burnham endeavors to flesh IDW’s vision of Karai out with
this long overdue origin story which ties into his Secret History of the Foot
Clan miniseries rather well. We learn
about Karai’s childhood, how Oroku Saki manipulated her into bringing him back
from the dead and how she wrested control of the Foot Clan from her incompetent
father. It’s a very informative story
and, character-wise, you can appreciate Karai’s perpetual frustration and
resentment throughout past issues just a little bit more. Shredder encouraged her to bring him back by feeding
on her love of the past, but then proceeded to demote and demean her for not
looking to the future. In the end, she
learns a valuable lesson about balancing tradition with ambition (and also that
Dark Leo’s a prick) and important story arcs are moved forward.
And yet, Karai doesn’t feel like a richer character for
any of it. At best, she’s just another
Starscream; a bitter second-in-command determined to seize leadership at any
cost. Her motivations (vengeance against
Shredder for manipulating her) feel especially redundant on the heels of the
Alopex microseries, which ended on almost precisely the same note. If anything, all these micros and the main
series seem to be accomplishing is diminishing the Shredder’s position as a
competent villain. I mean, just look at
how he’s setting himself up! He’s put
all his faith in a brainwashed nemesis to lead him to glory, whilst
simultaneously alienating his two trusted henchwomen to the point where they
BOTH want to kill him.
Fred Wolf Shredder would be embarrassed.
Getting back to Karai, even though she’s a character who
is always evolving, I think it’s important to maintain past elements into each
incarnation. Discarding her devotion to
the Shredder and sympathy for the Turtles insures we won’t be sitting through another
retelling of Karai’s crisis of conscience, but it also eliminates the only
qualities to her character that were ever any interesting. Take it all away and we’re left with just
another scheming female ninja second-in-command out to overthrow the Shredder…
and dammit, we’ve already got one of those!
On the subject of the art, Cory Smith turns in some
lovely pages. I may not be kind in my
appraisal of IDW Karai’s character, but her design is my favorite and Smith has
given one of her best renderings so far.
At times I felt her features were a little too sharp for the youthfulness
the script was trying to get across (she looks a bit older than I think she was
meant to be), but beyond that I’ve few complaints. The action layouts were well done during the
fight with Dark Leo, though I think the centerpiece to this issue was the page
in which Karai assassinates Nakamura with her bow and arrow. Herring’s colors complement Smith’s lines
nicely. I particularly liked the softer
pallet of the 3-page dream sequence. It
looked fuzzy and washed out, but only subtly so. It’s nice when a colorist doesn’t overdo it.
Karai’s microseries left me feeling rather empty. As an epilogue to The Secret History of the
Foot Clan, it was certainly enlightening; straightening out the timeline of the
Foot Clan’s resurgence and filling in any leftover narrative blanks. But regarding the intended purpose, to give
Karai some extra character, I felt it did just the opposite, robbing her of the
elements which have made her stand out these past ten years.
Grade: C- (as in, “Could the graffiti on page 5, ‘Mutanimals
Live’, be a sign of things to come? Now
THAT’S got me interested”.)
Labels:
IDW
Monday, August 19, 2013
Raph n' Casey vs. Pizzaface
Publication date: August 17, 2009
Story: Zac Gorman and Scott Wygmans
Script and layouts: Zac Gorman
Pencils and inks: Scott Wygmans
"Raph n' Casey vs. Pizzaface"
Summary:
At a pizza parlor in New York, Casey Jones and Raphael sit down for some lunch. Unbeknownst to them, the waiter taking their order is actually a Foot Soldier robot (cleverly disguised with a fake moustache).
The Foot Soldier delivers the order to the pizzeria's chef... Pizzaface! Pizzaface prepares the pie in his usual unsanitary fashion, but adds a secret topping: TCRI Mutagen.
The Foot Soldier brings the pizza to Casey and Raph, who are revolted at just a glance. Finally seeing through the Foot's clever ruse, Casey attacks the Foot Soldier, driving his fist through its robot head. As Casey goes nuts, Raph taps him on the shoulder and alerts him to a much larger problem. The pizza has mutated into a gargantuan, grotesque tentacle monster out for blood.
Turtle Tips:
*Wygmans made this comic available to view over at Go Green Machine.org back in 2009. You can check it out here.
Review:
Man, I love this little comic. It's a brief 3-pager, but Gorman and Wygmans put plenty of energy and personality into every panel. You wind up spending so much time digesting each page that the comic feels three times its own length.
In case you haven't heard, Pizzaface is one of my all-time favorite characters who has never been utilized in any form of TMNT fiction. So naturally, I ate this comic up (figuratively speaking; it's hard to maintain an appetite with Pizzaface around). Gorman's script is pretty much a precise adaptation of Pizzaface's M.O. from the profile on the back of his action figure card; that he travels from pizzeria to pizzeria, poisoning pies in an attempt to ambush the Turtles through their one weakness. The addition of a Foot Soldier robot disguised with nothing more than a fake moustache, and the scheme working, was a great callback to the absurdity of the Fred Wolf and Playmates TMNT universe. While the comic is mildly violent and has some decidedly non-kid-friendly trappings, it doesn't for one second take itself too seriously for its own inspiration.
One of the more impressive aspects to this comic is that the entire thing is done in pantomime. The story is told through the composition and the character expressions, but you never have any trouble picking up on the jokes or the narrative. I think the best sequence is on page 2, when Pizzaface receives the order and bakes the tainted pie. Little details make the whole scene, such as Pizzaface's "Municipal Waste" t-shirt or (my hands down favorite panel) the way he smokes three cigarettes at once while he waits for the pizza to finish cooking. Despite an extremely chaotic art style (that may put off some), the comic reads really intuitively and the layouts flow smoothly. I think the only panel that felt like a "waste" was the second panel of page 1, focusing on all the weirdos populating the pizzeria (didn't seem to serve much purpose and panel 1 transitions to panel 3 perfectly fine without it).
Anyhow, short and sweet as it may be, this is one of my favorite TMNT fan comics. If you haven't seen it yet, then check it out. It's pretty damn cool.
Labels:
Fan comics
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Mid-afternoon of the Living Dead
Publication date: December, 1991
Originally published in: Turtle Soup (Vol. 2) #2
Story and art: Dave Garcia
Color: Justin Hampton
“Mid-afternoon of the Living Dead”
Summary:
Hip zombie host Abner Cadaver welcomes the readers to
another installment of Oogah Boogah Theater.
Tonight’s story is called “Mid-Afternoon of the Living Dead”…
A meteor lands in the Ever-Rest Cemetery, but it’s no
ordinary space rock. The meteorite turns
out to be an alien canister containing strange worms. The night-crawlers work their way into the
soil where the coffins reside. The next
morning, a pair of intrepid meteorite hunters trace the trajectory of the
meteor to the cemetery. They get out of
their van to hunt for it, but are immediately attacked by flesh-eating zombies
who have been resurrected by the worms.
At a nearby lake, the Ninja Turtles are on a fishing
vacation. Sadly, Mikey ate all their
bait (mistaking it for anchovies), leaving them in a fix. Raph sees a local shambling toward them and
decides to ask him if he has any bait.
The man turns out to be a zombie, and what’s worse, he’s being
accompanied by dozens of other flesh-eaters.
The Turtles whip out their weapons and make quick work of the undead
creatures.
Later, the Turtles enjoy their fishing vacation, using
the alien worms they retrieved from the zombie corpses as bait. Abner Cadaver closes the story by reminding
the readers that you are what you eat, and when the Turtles eventually sit down
for a fish dinner, they’ll be indirectly eating the alien worms themselves.
Turtle Tips:
*The meteorite hunters, Kevin and Pete, are parodies of
TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird (duh).
*Despite being a Mirage publication, the Turtles are
wearing the multi-colored bandanas of their cartoon counterparts. This was typical in many stories featured
throughout Turtle Soup (Vol. 2).
Review:
Dave Garcia was another artist who popped up on various
TMNT projects in the early ‘90s, was good, and then quietly disappeared from
the franchise. He wore a few hats while
working on the series; mostly as an inker on early issues of Archie’s TMNT
Adventures, but he tried his hand at penciling a few issues, too. I thought his style was pretty solid, but he just
didn’t get very many opportunities to work on the book, and several of his
issues were during the dull cartoon episode-adaptation era.
“Mid-afternoon of the Living Dead” gives Garcia the
chance to go a little bonkers, though offered only a scant 5 pages to do
so. He races through the story so
quickly there hardly isn’t one at all (alien worms create zombies, TMNT kill
zombies, the end). I can’t really hold
it against him, though, because again: 5 pages.
Grade: N (as in, "Night of the Creeps. If you've seen it, then you'll know why I just brought it up".)
Labels:
Mirage issues
Saturday, August 17, 2013
TMNT (Dreamwave) #4
Publication date: September 2003
Written by: Peter David
Pencils by: Lesean Thomas
Inks: Erik Sander, Rob Armstrong
Colors: Shaun Curtis, Yvonne Poon, Pamil Sunga, Alan Wang
Flats: Kenny Li
Letters and design: Matt Moylan
VP/Editor in Chief: Roger Lee
President: Pat Lee
“Meet Casey Jones”
Summary:
In his apartment, Casey Jones is pumping iron and
listening to his neighbors next door.
The dad is tired and irritable with his son. Casey flashes back to one of his last
memories of his father…
The past. Casey is
a little kid, worried that his dad should give into the Purple Dragons and
their protection racket, lest something bad happen. Mr. Jones becomes violent and tells Casey
that he’s playing on HIS team and that a Jones never gives in (nearly punching
Casey in a violent rage). Mr. Jones
hears something and figures it’s the Purple Dragons breaking into his store.
Casey snaps out of his flashback and decides that it’s
time to make the Purple Dragons pay. He
puts on his hockey mask and golf bag full of blunt instruments and goes to
work.
The past. Casey
watches as his father’s store burns to the ground. The Purple Dragon leader, Hun, then smacks
Casey aside with the encouragement that his father pay up.
Prowling the streets, Casey spots some punks about to mug
a woman (mother of the kid next door). He beats them up, but even
after they surrender, he continues to wail on them with his hockey stick. Casey is suddenly subdued by Raphael, who
tells him to chill out. Casey isn’t in
the business of being told what to do and bashes Raph over the head before
chasing after the fleeing punks.
The past. Casey
breaks a bottle and stabs Hun in the leg with it. Furious, Hun has his thugs beat Casey to a
pulp. Before being thrown out of the
hospital because he lacked insurance, Casey is diagnosed with brain damage
from the beating. Shortly after that,
Mr. Jones goes searching for Hun to get revenge and vanishes. Casey’s mom then goes searching for her
husband and vanishes, too.
Casey continues beating on the thugs until Raph
intervenes. Raph tells him that his
heart is in the right place, but he’s meting out punishment with too much violence
and not enough thought. Casey still isn’t
listening and the two of them thrown down.
Raph knocks Casey down, but Casey hits him with a surprise attack and
flees on his motorcycle. Before he
leaves, he tells Raph to meet him in Central Park on Friday night to
finish things.
Climbing the fire escape to his apartment, Casey
overhears his neighbor about to get violent with his wife and son. Casey smashes through the window, prepared to
beat the man down. The man stands between
Casey and his family and vows to protect them from the vigilante. Casey realizes what Raph was trying to tell
him and runs away.
In his apartment next door, Casey overhears the family
telling a cop about the masked psycho that tried to kill them and the son calls
his father a hero for protecting them.
Casey drifts off into a delusional state, reassuring himself that his
father and mother are still alive, just waiting for Casey to clean the streets
of all the Purple Dragons before they can return.
Turtle Tips:
*This story is continued from TMNT (Dreamwave) #3. The story continues in TMNT (Dreamwave) #5.
*This issue was adapted from the 4Kids TMNT animated
series episode “Meet Casey Jones”.
Review:
This is probably the first issue of Dreamwave’s TMNT
comic to actually be readable. The story
follows Casey Jones and gives us deeper glimpses of his past, while the Turtles
are again reduced to cameo status, but I think the difference in this issue is
that it doesn’t feel like there’s a larger story we’re missing. Yes, there is an entirely separate subplot
from the 4Kids episode that got excised (Raph coping with his own anger after
nearly braining Mikey), but David wisely ignores all that crap and gives us
just ONE plot to follow. No confusion
about stuff being referenced that we aren’t seeing; just a single coherent
storyline. A Dreamwave first, ladies and
gentlemen.
While it’s still the familiar story from the 4Kids
episode “Meet Casey Jones” (or Raphael microseries #1, if we're being honest), it’s interesting to actually SEE the relationship between Casey and his
father that we’re told was so important, but the cartoon never bothered to
explore. There’s a rather shocking
revelation involved, as we learn that the father Casey worshiped was really a
violent, stubborn, frightening man.
There’s nothing pleasant about him, as he calls women stupid, puts his
pride before the safety of his family and proceeds to teach Casey a lesson
about courage by nearly punching a hole through his head.
I think this did a decent job of illustrating Casey’s
delusional state, as the person he’s describing isn’t the person he’s
remembering. In fact, it was
satisfactory enough that the issue REALLY didn’t need to end on Casey
desperately trying to convince himself that his parents are still alive and
watching him and waiting to come back, but only after he cleans up the
streets. That was laying it on a bit
thick (likewise with the overstatement of his brain damage; a briefer mention
would have gotten the point across just as well). I did like the dichotomy of the neighbor
family; a violent, irritable father neglecting/abusing his son, but the son
looking up to him regardless of treatment.
It’s likely a matter of coincidence, but a few elements
from David’s expansion of the “Meet Casey Jones” episode seem to have seeped
their way into other TMNT continuities. Mirage’s
Tales of the TMNT (Vol. 2) #56 adapted the idea of Hun killing Casey’s father
and burning down his store (something the 4Kids cartoon writers thought up),
but the issue also incorporated the idea that Casey took on brain damage after
the violent beating he took from the Purple Dragons. To my knowledge, David is the first author to
ever pitch the idea that Casey is legitimately mentally handicapped. There’s also the portrayal of Casey’s father
as a violent brute; something IDW adopted early on with TMNT (IDW) #1. The two Mr. Joneses don’t share any
similarities beyond that, but being a child-endangering scumbag seems to be a
consistent portrayal for the character.
So yeah, on a script level, this was a pretty solid
issue. It overstates some stuff to get
the point across, but all in all, it’s actually a GOOD expansion of a 4Kids
episode. So what brings it down?
The lousy art, of course.
I’ve gone on ad nauseum about Lesean Thomas’s numerous
failings as an artist and I’m really in no mood to repeat the same old
critiques. All I will say is that he isn’t
getting any better; Thomas is not an artist in any hurry to improve his
craft. In fact, believe it or not, he
may actually be getting worse. He
copy-pastes the splash on page 1 and recycles it for the last page of the
issue, repeating it to fill 4 panels.
Now, I understand the intent: to illustrate how the same pose can represent both grim determination and pathetic defeat, distinguished only by the context of the inner monologue bubbles. But for the love of
god, REDRAW the damn panel! Even if
there are just subtle differences between the two versions of the same basic
layout, it still keeps the damn thing from looking like a cheap, lazy shortcut.
Also, hey, scroll back on up there and take a closer look at that scan of Casey getting kicked by Raph. Notice how when he goes flying his bag is over his right shoulder, but when he lands it's over his left shoulder? Crap like that everywhere.
And once again, we’ve got 5 colorists and 2 inkers just
to get a single issue onto the stands.
This thing is a mess of conflicting lighting, toning and photoshop effects between pages and panels. Worse yet, most of the colorists on this
issue are completely new to the book, making the look even less consistent than
usual. A competent publisher would
assign a dedicated colorist to a title to maintain a steady look; that’s just a
fundamental. But then, Dreamwave went
bankrupt for a reason.
Grade: D+ (as in, “Dreamwave once again posts fanart in
the letters column that looks considerably better than the art in the actual
comic”.)
Labels:
Dreamwave
Friday, August 16, 2013
TMNT Fan-Comic!
Publication date: July 8, 2013
Story and art by Caleb Goellner and Buster Moody
"TMNT Fan-Comic!"
Summary:
A trio of Purple Dragons are absolutely tickled that they've finally been invited to the annual Foot Clan BBQ. Only the cream of the criminal crop get invites and the punks figure they're moving up in the world.
Unfortunately, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Splinter have chosen to crash the shindig, pummeling the stooges before they can even get their homemade potato salad to the picnic table. Splinter is especially livid, feeling that the Foot have committed an injustice so great, it requires the Turtles to make an uncharacteristic daytime appearance.

The TMNT lay waste to the gathering of super villains: Leo slices his way through some robot foes (Metalhead, Super Rocksteady, Mighty Bebop), Don flips a picnic table of hungry Foot Soldiers onto the unsuspecting Shogun Shoate/Chote, Mike cleanses the swimming pool (Merdude, Scale Tail, Armaggon) and Raph silences the musical entertainment (Antrax, DJ Krang and the truly villainous Vanilla Ice).
Finally, they confront Chef Shredder and trash his grill. Why the outrage? They're incensed that the Shredder would throw a pizza party and not invite them! Shredder corrects them: This is a barbecue, not a pizza party. Embarrassed, Splinter and the Turtles slink away as all the villains groan in pain and confusion.
Turtle Tips:
*Buster Moody made this comic viewable over at his blog. Check it out! Included are high quality download links, as well. While you're at it, check out their creator owned comic, Task Force Rad Squad.
Review:
There are a lot of great official TMNT comics out there, but I thought I'd extend myself a bit and spotlight some of my favorite fan creations (which are often just as entertaining, if not moreso, than many official publications). This recent offering from Caleb Goellner and Buster Moody really caught my eye and I think it deserves some attention.
Look, I dig just about every iteration of the Ninja Turtle franchise, but I hold a special place in my heart for the weird micro-continuity of the Playmates action figure line. That shit was just WEIRD; often too weird for even the Fred Wolf cartoon or Archie TMNT Adventures comic book, as they rarely included the toyline characters. As an end result, many of the bizarre mutants with elaborate backgrounds (chronicled on the card backs) and even more elaborate designs... never got any fiction.
Well, beyond the stories I made up in my head as I played with my toys. And really, what could possibly top those?
Goellner and Moody come pretty close, with this fan-comic being a really fun romp through the irreverent insanity of the Playmates toyline. Just about every villain from the toyline is present at the barbecue (and even a few heroes who probably shouldn't be there, like the Fugitoid) and playing "Where's Waldo" with them is 90% of the fun. I considered listing them all in the Turtle Tips section, but that'd just be ruining the game for everybody.
Some of the details present on the toy-accurate character designs really ought to be acknowledged, though. I'm talking about obscure stuff such as Pizzaface's meatball-shaped Siamese twin, which was a part of his toy's prototype but dropped from the release sculpt. Even Tatsu is there, in what appears to be his Konami video game design (he was a boss in TMNT: The Hyper Stone Heist for the Sega Genesis).
The art is lively and chaotic, but not a mess to read. And the dialogue is a collection of weirdly strung together quips, catchphrases and non sequiturs which make the juvenile strangeness of the proceedings all the more hilarious. Shredder seems to be the only character with an ounce of self awareness.
It's only 7 pages (8 if you count the spread as two), but it's a really fun 7 pages. The quantity of Easter Eggs and sight gags give it a considerable re-read value and I've probably spent more time poring over this fan-made short than I have most full-length comics from official publishers (I don't know why I find the toy-accurate wind-up Mouser smoking a cigarette so funny; I just do). So give it a look and maybe check out some of Goellner and Moody's other stuff. You can claim you have better things to do, but you're lying.
(Also, I admit defeat in that I can't identify the two robots in the foreground that Leo beheads.)
Labels:
Fan comics
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Turtle Power!
Originally published in: Turtle Soup (Vol. 2) #1
Publication date: November, 1991
Story and art: Rich Hedden and Tom McWeeney
Colors: Guy Romano
“Turtle Power!”
Summary:
Flying in the Turtle Blimp, the TMNT finally locate
Krang’s secret base and prepare to attack.
Spotting them on his security system, Krang fires a harpoon missile which bursts the blimp. The Turtles
crash-land in the moat and then infiltrate the base through a sewage pipe.
Krang, thinking the TMNT are finished, returns to his
fiendish experiments. He feeds tainted
dog food to a Scottish terrier, which mutates into a lumbering dog
monster. Krang bellows with joy,
believing that he can sell his “retromutagen dog food” on the open market and
use it to mutate an army of vicious monsters under his control.
The Turtles finally arrive on the scene and tell Krang
the jig is up. Krang sics the dog-mutant
on them, but the TMNT take it down with a net.
They corner Krang, but he ejects from his bubble-walker with a rocket
pack and escapes. Suddenly, a countdown
mechanism initiates and the Turtles escape the base just before it self-destructs. Having foiled Krang’s evil
scheme, the Turtles celebrate their victory with a catchphrase or two.
…In the real world, the entire adventure is revealed to
have been imagined by a small boy named Bart, playing with his TMNT action
figures. Bart’s mom comes home and finds
the living room a mess (the Turtle Blimp toy submerged in the aquarium and
their Scottish terrier bound up in a blanket).
Bart’s mom scolds him for playing too messily in the house.
Turtle Tips:
*Fans often identify the dog-mutant as being Rahzar. However, the monster is never named in the
comic and the only similarity it shares with Rahzar is being a canine. "TMNT II: The Secret of the ooze" (Rahzar's first appearance) was released in March of 1991, only a few months before this issue was published.
*A Roachmill comic (along with a TMNT comic) can be seen
on the last page. Roachmill was a title
created by Hedden and McWeeney.
Review:
Hedden & McWeeney at perhaps their least offensive, “Turtle
Power” is a fun little story with some REALLY lavish coloring by Romano. In fact, I’d say it’s one of the best-looking
stories in Turtle Soup #1, which is a pretty high compliment considering it
keeps company with stories by Michael Dooney and Anderson/McCollum.
It’s a bit strange to be seeing all these Fred Wolf and
Playmates TMNT-isms in a Mirage publication, but more surprisingly is that they’re
implemented without any cheap jabs. By
1991, the Mirage comics seemed desperate to distance themselves from the
popular kids arm of the franchise, often taking potshots at every “Cowabunga” or what have you. While one might interpret
the ending as a subtle way of reminding the audience that the Fred Wolf and
Playmates TMNT aren’t the “real” TMNT, I couldn't find any malice in it. If anything, it was just a
refreshing reminder that when kids play with their toys and tell their little
stories, they don’t see the same things adults do when they’re watching.
Not a heck of a lot to say about it, other than that
Hedden and McWeeney make a few errors (Leo and Don getting mixed up on page 2,
Krang referring to regular old mutagen as “retromutagen” when retromutagen is
supposed to undo mutations). Still, the
elaborate art and excellent coloring make up for any setbacks and at 6 pages,
this kind of story is exactly as long as it needs to be.
Grade: I (as in, “I wonder why they colored the Turtles
with red bandanas, though, if this was all a reference to the Fred
Wolf/Playmates stuff? Guess it was
another error”.)
Labels:
Mirage issues
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